Shannon Nance is the recently appointed Assistant Concertmaster of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. She has been a member of the violin section of the RPO since 1993 and holds two degrees from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Catherine Tait and Zvi Zeitlin. Shannon is an active chamber musician in the Ro

chester area, and can often be heard collaborating with colleagues from the RPO and faculty members of the Eastman School of Music on the recital series of Society for Chamber Music in Rochester, the Academy of Medicine, and Morning Chamber Music in Kilbourn Hall. Shannon has enjoyed performing over the past few years in the Finger Lakes area, appearing as a guest with the Finger Lakes Chamber Ensemble in Lodi, NY and at the Canandaigua Lake Music Festival. Shannon plays a 1798 Joseph and Antonius Gagliano violin.

In addition to a busy perfoming career, Shannon is also a dedicated violin teacher, and has students of varying ages currently in her studio. For the 2008-09 school year she was the chamber music coach at the Charles Finney School in Penfield, NY.

Originally from Lincoln, NE, Shannon grew up in a musical home learning piano from her mother and being surrounded by many styles of music, including bluegrass banjo, which was her father’s hobby. She began studying Suzuki violin at the age of six, and managed to progress in her violin development, despite a childhood filled with acting appearances (including a central role for four years in a Nebraska Educational Television show called Strawberry Square), dancing lessons, baton twirling, and swing choirs. Shannon’s love for the violin eventually eclipsed all other activities, and the pursuit of that art opened many doors for travel, taking her to Michigan, California, Germany, Russia and eventually Rochester, NY!

Shannon lives a full and busy life with her husband Wesley (trumpeter in the RPO) and four active children (Brooke, Brandon, Brianna and Bridget). Though “free time” is scarce, Shannon and Wes managed to study ballroom dance for several years, and have enjoyed discovering the connection between music and movement, especially when that music is Salsa! The entire Nance family have become avid sailors this past summer, thanks to her father’s recent acquisition of a 25 foot sailboat, “Daydreamer,” docked on Lake Ontario.

Nationally acclaimed baritone Timothy LeFebvre has wide-ranging experience from the operatic stage to the concert hall. His 2008-2009 appearances included the title role in Rigoletto with Tri-Cities Opera, Messiah with Jacksonville Symphony, Ping in Turandot with Jacksonville Symphony, the Brahms Requiem with the Binghamton Philharmo

nic, Vaughan-Williams’ Five Mystical Songs and Liszt’s Christus with the New Dominion Chorale, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Mozart’s Solemn Vesper Mass with the Berkshire Choral Festival. In the 2007-2008 season, LeFebvre made his debut with Opera Delaware, and had return engagements with Berkshire Choral Festival, Jacksonville Symphony, Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, and Cornell University.

Mr. LeFebvre has appeared in concert with the Jacksonville Symphony, Pensacola Symphony, West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Vermont Symphony, Minnesota Symphony, Syracuse Symphony, American Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Spokane Symphony, Binghamton Philharmonic, Rochester Bach Festival, Berkshire Choral Festival, New Dominion Chorale, Williamsport Symphony, Syracuse Chamber Music Society, the Skaneateles Festival and the Marlboro Music Festival.  He has also appeared in concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall.  His operatic experience includes leading roles with Central City Opera, Tri-Cities Opera, Sarasota Opera, Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, Syracuse Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Opera Delaware, and Opera Theater of Pittsburgh. 

Mr. LeFebvre is a winner of the New York Liederkranz Vocal Competition, and other awards include the Richard F. Gold Career Grant, an Opera Fellowship at Binghamton University and Regional Finalist in several Metropolitan Opera Competitions. Mr. LeFebvre is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University and Binghamton University and is currently Assistant Professor of Voice at Binghamton University. Future performances include concerts with the Finger Lakes Chamber Ensemble, Faure’s Requiem with Syracuse Symphony, Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Hamilton College, a solo recital at Hamilton College, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes.

Franklin Crawford